Friday 27 August 2010

Mr. KIM GOES TO CHINA

The Korea Herald

KIM’S CHINA VISIT

The Korea Herald, August 27, 2010

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is visiting China, possibly with his third son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-un. On Thursday, he reportedly visited a middle school in Jilin in northeastern China that his late father, Kim Il-sung, attended. On Friday, he moved to Changchun, an industrial city about an hour’s drive from Jilin. Little else is known about the reclusive leader’s unexpected trip to China.

Kim’s visit is puzzling as it comes just three months after he made an unofficial visit to Beijing from May 3 to 7, the first time in four years. All the more so given the arrival in Pyongyang of Jimmy Carter on the eve of his abrupt midnight departure to China. What is it that is more important for the North Korean leader than to meet the former U.S. president whom he invited to discuss the release of an American jailed in the North – and probably the resumption of the stalled six-party talks on the North’s nuclear programs?

Many North Korea analysts in Seoul suggest Kim’s visit most likely has to do with his plan to hand over power to his handpicked successor, Jong-un. They point to the Workers’ Party Representatives Meeting which is to be convened early next month for the first time in 44 years. Jong-un is widely expected to be appointed to a key party position at the meeting.

(...) [artículo aquí]

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